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The Left Unity project is as ambitious as they come, a work in progress that will never be completed as long as there are those willing to fight for a new kind of politics. Our party is attempting to do away with the outdated and the archaic defunct structures of the past, structures which ultimately have existed to keep power in the hands of a few while at the same time robbing it from the many. In this past year we have come along way, we have had many ups and downs but the relentless assault on the people continues, regardless of what we do and in that vein we shall continue marching on! We can only operate on trial and error, if we wait for the perfect party or the perfect structure or the perfect time, then we will be waiting in vain.

Our greatest strength are the people, it is how we organise on the ground which is key to our success, and this is why it is my belief we should be doing everything possible to empower our existing organisation and expanding our structures to accommodate a bottom up power model. These things do exist in some capacity, but as with all things they can always be improved, as we are attempting to create an atmosphere where a social movement can spring up much in the vein of Greece and Spain we should be doing everything possible to achieve this. Within the article I will discuss how we can empower regions and branches so that we are more accountability and doing politics in a less hierarchical and thus in a more open way.

Here are a list of suggestions

One principal speaker per region (elected by that region)

Region specific policy making

policies which are detrimental to a region or branch can be adapted or in some cases removed from that specific region/branch (regional veto)

Disputes handled at regional level, appeal handled at national

Regional NC reps being from throughout the region (no branch concentration of power)

Remove all form of delegate based conferences and meetings

Conference and regional votes should follow direct democracy with region and nation (end to the tyranny of the attendee, party-wide referendums)

Branches have further autonomy enshrined in the constitution

Some of these things are a lot easier to implement than others, and arguably some exist in theory or on paper, but have yet to be implemented. It is my belief that Left Unity national should exist as a mediator, facilitator and promoter for regional and branch development, as we work at building a network which forms our national identity. If we are to have any hope of creating a mass movement, it is imperative it comes from below, the top down approach has failed many a time, and it is my concern we are in danger of sliding back into the traditional methods of organisation which have a proven record of failure. Our main aim should be giving the tools to party members and the public to shape our party as they see fit.

We need to bolster and improve regional powers so that there is more accountability, more variety and ultimately more power in the hands of members. We want an environment which promotes participation and interest through having an atmosphere where people, their actions and their beliefs actually matter, where they have an impact. These things have been lacking from mainstream politics and unless we start looking at ways to engage, people will switch off with us too. Hence region specific policy making, regional principal speakers, regional veto and regional disputes as all these measures can act as the fertilizer for a more robust political party and in turn movement. We are trying to reshape society, we cannot do that if we cannot reshape ourselves.

Regional NC Representation at present can be concentrated into one branch, regional reps should be representative of the region and not only a single or a select few branches. This ensures regular communication and co-operation between regional areas but it protects against a single branch representing a region in an unaccountable fashion. We have a pretty autonomous branch structure as it stands, the worrying part however is a lack of branch rights included in the constitution. Just what, how and when can our branch act, what rights do we have in case of disputes? I think how we have it at the moment in terms of branch autonomy is pretty good, but we need to be enshrining it in the constitution and working out how we can ensure branch autonomy is here to stay, how national can support it and where we can improve it.

Delegate conferences are a thing of the past, we should be looking at how Podemos conducted their conference and seek to emulate that. This means internet participation and utilizing all forms of technology available to us, but more than that it means an end to the tyranny of the attendee – why should the pressure be on members to get themselves to this place or that when voting can be done online? We need to be as accessible and as open as possible, this means accommodating people and their busy stress filled lives. Fact is if you’re a single mother living in York it is going to be very difficult for you to attend something taking place in London. All members votes are equal, that single mothers vote is worth just as much as someone who lives there and can attend easily. Our party does not represent its members views if the majority of them cannot vote on our policies.

To conclude the kind of party we should be building is one that is adaptable, varied, representative, accountable to the lowest level and one that empowers all its members. In my opinion the best way to achieve that is to empower structures like the regional assembles and branches so that we can improve the bottom-up model we are trying to build. This should not end there and should include conferences, members from all over the country should be included and we should be looking at ways to be as inclusive as we possibly can. The debate on what kind of party we are building should never end, we should never stop looking at how we can improve what we have and how we can empower people, because our party like the universe is always in motion. When we have groups like Podemos, Occupy and Anon who have radically different approaches for our inspiration, there is just no excuse.